Serge Prutski
In Biggles Takes Charge, Serge Prutski was a Russian secret service agent sent, together with von Stalhein, to hunt down and kill Boris Zarrill and Charles Zarrill, members of the Moldavian royal family. Prutski, a Moldavian, was one of the leaders of the revolution in Moldavia which took place in 1940 (see discussion in the research notes section of the article for Biggles Takes Charge). He had been armed by Russia and persuaded to come out in open revolt against the monarchy. According to Boris Zarrill, Prutski probably hoped to line his pockets by looting the royal palace. However, the Moldavian princes had removed the family treasures to a hunting lodge at Zogoreb. On their return, there had been some organised rioting and the princes showed themselves to the people hoping to restore order. It was at this time that Prutski shot and killed them. Boris Zarrill also described Prutski as an ex-jailbird of a prison in Bucharest, Romania. He was was later released by the Russians and recruited into their secret service. His stint in prison have happened after the revolution in 1940. He could not have been in a revolution if he was in prison before then. Equally, he could only have been released after 1945 as only then, with the Soviet Army in occupation in Romania, could the Russians have secured his release. One of Prutski's primary missions in the Russian secret service was to track down and kill the members of the Moldavian royal family and discover the secret hiding place of the royal crown jewels. Some time before the events in the book (set around 1955), Prutski managed to locate Boris Zarrill, the Moldavian Grand Duke and Crown Prince, in Switzerland and shot him in the back. Boris narrowly escaped being killed and went into hiding, for a time leading Prutski and others to believe that he had actually died. Prutski subsequently turned his attention to locating Charles Zarrill, Boris' cousin and the next in line to the throne and almost succeeded. He came close in Paris but Yakoff, Charles' servant, spotted him with von Stalhein mounting surveillance outside the Hotel Pont-Royal. Charles and Yakoff evaded them and moved to the Hotel St James but Prutski managed to traced Charles there as well. Charles evaded him a second time and escaped to the Chateau Grandbulon in La Sologne where he met Algy who was sheltering from a blizzard in the chateau. Prutski and von Stalhein followed the trail to the Chateau Grandbulon but did not find Charles at the Chateau. Algy had, by this time, decided to help Charles and had told him to hide upstairs in the chateau while he dealt with the unwelcome visitors. Prutski finally met Charles for the first time, and then only by a coincidence, when Algy and Charles were on their way south to Monte Carlo. Algy had, by misfortune, chosen to have breakfast in Vierzon in the same hotel where von Stalhein and Prutski were staying. Again, Algy and Charles managed to evade the pursuit, this time by stirring up a commotion in the restaurant. But Prutski and von Stalhein would prove difficult to shake off. Algy and Charles got to Monte Carlo and made their way to Boris' house at the Villa Clement. They had hoped to look for clues as to Boris' whereabouts. Instead, they found von Stalhein and Prutski waiting for them. Prutski would have killed Charles then, but for the timely intervention of Biggles and Marcel Brissac. When Charles, Algy, Biggles and Marcel returned to La Sologne and met up with Boris, Prutski and von Stalhein was not far behind. Prutski secured a temporary advantage. He and von Stalhein managed to capture Ginger and Bertie (whom Biggles had left to watch the chateau) and trapped Biggles and the others inside. Prutski threatened to burn the building down unless they gave themselves up. However, Biggles managed to exit the chateau by a secret underground passage and turn the tables on Prutski and von Stalhein. After disarming the Iron Curtain agents, Biggles forced them into the chateau and ordered them to remain inside pending the arrival of the police. By the time they arrived, however, von Stalhein had escaped and Prutski was found dying on the ground after having been shot. Boris Zarrill believed that he had been killed by Robert, the gamekeeper of the neighbouring estate and former colleague of Boris in the French resistance. Category:People Category:Biggles characters Category:Air Police era characters